


soaking you into my skin

by sickoflosiingsoulmates



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: 1k of me trying to describe colors, AU, F/F, Femslash, Fluff, like so so fluffy rip
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-25
Updated: 2016-12-25
Packaged: 2018-09-10 22:28:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8941882
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sickoflosiingsoulmates/pseuds/sickoflosiingsoulmates
Summary: Annabeth lives in a world where your soulmate can paint your skin with a touch of their fingertips.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is for my secret santa, @ racheldaredevil on tumblr.  
> Title taken from Los Angeles by Nina Nesbitt  
> Idea from this post: http://solangeloismymoonlight.tumblr.com/post/147488738678/okay-so-imagine-a-soulmate-au-where-whenever-your-soulmate

Annabeth has been surrounded with colors her entire life. She sees it with her father and stepmother, with them sharing brief touches on each other’s arms and the patches of bright purple that bloom underneath. With her English professor, showing up to class with a bright smile and a fluorescent green cheek. The cashier at the grocery store with pink hands, the man walking his dog with red blotches on his neck, his face, his arms. Colors and colors and colors, in every shade imaginable, covering as much surface of someone as touch will allow. A soulmate’s temporary mark on a person.

Annabeth has been fascinated by soul marks for as long as she can remember. The feat of colors magically appearing on someone’s skin after a touch from a romantic or platonic partner that shouldn’t be possible, but is. An impossibility that, despite all odds, isn’t impossible after all.

When she was younger, Annabeth had many questions about the soulmarks. “Does it feel like anything?” She asked her dad when she was seven, staring curiously at the purple swirls of color that ran up her father’s arms from where her stepmom’s hands had danced an hour earlier. Her dad’s mouth twitched into a smile at the question, and his eyes fixated on the wall.

“Yes. It’s quieted over time, but the feeling is - it’s indescribable. Like sparks running through your blood, likes fireworks exploding in your bones.” He chuckled at Annabeth’s slightly horrified expression. To Annabeth’s seven-year-old mind, that sounded terrible, and she didn’t understand why her dad was talking about it so fondly.

Now, at nineteen, she thinks she gets it. The electric rush of giddiness from a soulmate that she’s heard so much about when your skin is painted with skin. Annabeth figures it’s not so much the physical feeling as it is the meaning behind it, of being wanted, of belonging. She can’t wait to experience it someday.

Percy, her friend and current roommate, found his soulmate when they were twelve. It’s rare for a soulmate to be found that young, and everyone was shocked when Percy showed up at school with a bright orange palm. He easily dodged questions about his soulmate, until he confided in Annabeth one day that his soulmate was platonic, found in a boy named Grover. He didn’t want people telling him that they were sorry he didn’t have a “real” soulmate, because Percy loved Grover so much, and he wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship, anyway.

Annabeth doesn’t remember how the conversation came up, but when she and Percy were thirteen, and her childlike curiosity hadn’t yet left her, she asked Percy what it was like when him and Grover touched.

Percy had stared at the ceiling for a few seconds. When he turned back to her, he said, “Well, it’s like coming home during winter, and you’re all cold, right? But when you get home, it’s warm and there’s a fire in the fireplace and hot chocolate on the table. You know?”

She didn’t. She wished she did, wishes she knew exactly what she should expect when she meets her soulmate, but truthfully, she has no idea. She’s been told different variations of the same idea her entire life, and she knows there is no way of telling what she will feel when she meets her soulmate, just like there’s no way to tell what color her soulmate’s hands will stain her skin with.

And just like everything else, she doesn’t know, until, suddenly, she does.

\---

It’s the end of April, and Annabeth is about to be late for her class. Her alarm hadn’t gone off, none of her clothes were clean, and she couldn’t find her keys. Now, she is practically sprinting to her Women and Gender Studies class, textbook carefully tucked under her arm.

Annabeth is so consumed with getting to class on time that she doesn’t notice the girl walking the opposite direction, heading straight for her. They crash into each other, and Annabeth is so startled that she drops her book. That, however, is overshadowed by the fact that there’s a splotch of blue color spreading across her upper arm, dark, and covering the litter of freckles that live there.

The first thing Annabeth notices, besides the rich color, is the warmth. Her whole body is consumed by it, a thick, pulsing warmth that reminds her of hot chocolate and huge blankets. Her arm, where the color brushes against it, is especially warm, but not uncomfortably so. No, her arm nearly tingles, but all she can concentrate on is how nice it feels. She wants to be blanketed in it forever. Nothing in the world is comparable to the feeling of this warmth, Annabeth thinks. Well, that is until Annabeth removes her eyes from her painted arm and looks at her soulmate for the first time.

Annabeth is at a loss for words. Her soulmate has rich brown skin, only shades lighter than her eyes. And, God, her eyes. They look as if they could hold all the secrets of the universe, all warm and inviting, with a ring of gold around the center. Dark brown hair tumbles past her shoulder in two braids, resting below her chest. Her mouth is slightly open in shock, and she hasn’t yet lifted her eyes from the royal blue mark on her arm.

“Oh,” she says quietly, almost too quietly for Annabeth to hear her. Her voice is light and melodic, though that could just be because of her surprise. She looks up slowly, finally training her eyes on Annabeth. Their eyes meet, and Annabeth’s heart speeds up. “Oh,” she repeats, only slightly louder, then visibly swallows, looking as awed as Annabeth feels.

Annabeth swallows and bites her lip. She knows she should say something, and in any other circumstance, she would, but this isn’t any other circumstance. This is her soulmate, the person she’s destined to love for the rest of her life. What is Annabeth even supposed to say?

As it turns out, she isn’t the one to speak first. “I’m Piper,” her soulmate introduces, her voice still soft, as if this murmur is a secret for Annabeth’s ears only. The name fits her, Annabeth thinks, though she doesn’t have any reasoning for the thought. She supposes she doesn’t need one.

“I’m Annabeth. I, um, need to get to class, but we could get coffee afterwards?” A smile works its way onto Piper’s face, bright and inviting. Piper’s smile is as beautiful as the rest of her, and Annabeth hopes that she’ll get to see it again, and soon.

“I’d love that,” Piper responds, and Annabeth grins in response. They exchange phone numbers, and Annabeth continues onto class, already late, but feeling lighter than she had before. So light, in fact, that she has to circle back a minute later to pick up her discarded textbook, forgotten in the thrill of meeting her soulmate.

\---

When they meet up again, it’s just outside a coffee shop, and they exchange soft smiles and casual touches, both admiring the colors newly staining their fingers. They head inside, and begin talking as soon as they reach a table.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on instagram: @ not_percy_jackson  
> my tumblr: @ flowercrownpiper


End file.
